Colorado xeriscaping: Trading grass for rocks and drought-resistant plants

Standing in front of a suburban house in Thornton, Colo., it’s easy to notice what is missing. Instead of a traditional grass lawn, the front yard is covered with rocks, mulch and drought-resistant plants.

The yard is an example of xeriscaping, a water-wise landscaping approach that is gaining attention as Colorado faces another dry year. For homeowners such as Damien Cordoba, replacing grass is one way to conserve water without leaving the yard bare.

“We keep seeing the symptoms of global warming here,” Cordoba said. “For myself and my wife, we keep seeing things get worse, and we’re trying our hardest to conserve water.”

According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, in early March, Colorado’s statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) was only 63% of the median — its lowest on record for that time of year. The consequences of this winter’s historically low snowpack carried into the summer, with Gov. Jared Polis declaring a statewide drought emergency on June 4. 

“We hadn’t declared a drought since 2013,” said Bea Stratton, director of conservation at Denver Water. “It’s been quite a while since we’ve been in this situation, but what’s different about this is that we typically would go into a drought watch year, and we completely skipped through drought watch and went straight into stage one drought. So the severity of the situation is illustrated in that step.”

Cordoba says the decision to remove the lawn started close to home.

“The initial idea entered our head because we had seen some other houses around that have done a similar thing,” said Cordoba, about what led him and his wife to replace his front yard with xeriscaping. 

The transformation took one day to complete, with Cordoba designing the new landscape himself.

“This year we had a surplus of cash and decided now was the time to pull the trigger,” he said. “And motivation-wise, neither of us felt comfortable with the amount of water that we were throwing away.”

For homeowners not interested in replacing their grass with rocks and other drought-resistant plants, there are other water-saving alternatives. One of the most popular is replacing Kentucky Bluegrass lawns, by far the most common lawn grass in Colorado, with native or drought-resistant grass seeds, which require less irrigation while maintaining a traditional grassy appearance.

While Kentucky Bluegrass requires 18 to 20 gallons of water per square foot per year, native grasses only require six gallons. Because of the significant reduction in water use that these practices offer, companies such as Denver Water offer incentives for residents to replace their lawns with xeriscaping or water-wise grass seeds.

“Our straightforward support on turf replacement is through Boulder nonprofit Resource Central,” Stratton said. “They have a turf replacement program where our customers can apply through the Resource Central website, and they will come out, remove the turf and leave you with a blank slate to start a low-water perennial garden or plant native grass.”

The program is designed so that Denver Water will share the cost of the service with the customer, resulting in a total cost of $2.75 per square foot, with Denver Water paying $1.75. However, demand has surged because of this year’s drought, and the service is completely booked for the remainder of the year.

“We’ve had an overwhelming response to all our conservation programs with the drought year,” Stratton said. “Currently, the turf removal program is on hold until 2027.”

Landscaping companies across the state have also felt this surge in demand from customers seeking xeriscaping services. 

“We’re seeing a much higher demand than in previous years from customers looking for this type of service,” said Eder Reis, owner of Reis Contractors, a landscaping company based in Denver. “And it’s mainly because of the water restrictions.”

Reis maintains that it is possible to have an attractive and nature-inspired front yard without a traditional lawn. 

“What we recommend is that when people remove their lawns, they don’t replace them with just rocks,” Reis said. “Instead, they should install shrubs, colorful flowers and even trees like maples. That way, you preserve the greenery and the natural beauty of your home while significantly reducing water use.”

While xeriscaping can reduce long-term maintenance costs, the upfront investment can be a barrier for many homeowners. According to Reis, professionally installed xeriscaping typically costs $7 per square foot for turf replacement, $600 per tree or large plant and approximately $250 per ton of decorative rock. 

“Our first year we were here, we had a quote from a company, and it was just a little bit outside of our price range,” Cordoba said. “It was a couple thousand more than we were expecting to pay for something like that.” 

In the end, to save costs, Cordoba made the design himself and hired a friend to help him with the transformation. 

“I used a Photoshop type of program to go in and put layers and rocks,” he said. 

Despite the high costs, Reis believes that with the surge in demand and with Colorado seemingly becoming a drier state every year, xeriscaping and water-wise alternatives to traditional lawns will gradually start to become the norm instead of the exception.

“In 10 years, I’d guess there will be very few homes left with real grass,” he said. “Many people already prefer to replace their vivid grass lawns with artificial turf or xeriscaping yards.”